NFL Pointspread Contest: Week 12

[Anthony]

Thursday, November 23:

Miami 2 1/2 over DETROIT (12:30 PM ET)
DALLAS 11 over Tampa Bay (3:15 PM ET)
Denver 1 1/2 over KANSAS CITY (7:00 PM ET)


Sunday, November 26:

N.Y. JETS 5 1/2 over Houston (1:00 PM ET)
Carolina 4 1/2 over WASHINGTON
Jacksonville 3 over BUFFALO
ATLANTA 3 over New Orleans
Cincinnati 3 over CLEVELAND
BALTIMORE 3 over Pittsburgh
MINNESOTA 6 1/2 over Arizona
ST. LOUIS 6 over San Francisco
SAN DIEGO 13 over Oakland (4:05 PM ET)
NEW ENGLAND 3 over Chicago (4:15 PM ET)
N.Y. Giants 3 over TENNESSEE
INDIANAPOLIS 9 over Philadelphia (8:15 PM ET)


Monday, November 27:

SEATTLE 10 over Green Bay (8:30 PM ET) Courtesy of Stations


Home team in CAPS; tie-breaker games in red.

Don't forget to designate three picks as Best Bets.

For complete contest rules, click here.

[bama4256]

1

DETROIT (12:30 PM ET)
Tampa Bay (3:15 PM ET)
Kansas city


Sunday, November 26:

N.Y. JETS
Carolina
Jacksonville
New Orleans
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Arizona
ST. LOUIS
SAN DIEGO -BB
Chicago
N.Y. Giants
INDIANAPOLIS-BB

Monday, November 27:

SEATTLE -BB

[The Pirate Bob]

2

Miami
DALLAS
Denver BB


Sunday, November 26:

N.Y. JETS
Carolina
Jacksonville
New Orleans
Cincinnati BB
BALTIMORE
Arizona BB
San Francisco
SAN DIEGO
NEW ENGLAND
N.Y. Giants
INDIANAPOLIS

SEATTLE

[Marc]

3

Miami
DALLAS (BB)
Denver
N.Y. JETS
Carolina (BB)
Jacksonville
ATLANTA
Cincinnati (BB)
BALTIMORE
MINNESOTA
ST. LOUIS
SAN DIEGO
NEW ENGLAND
N.Y. Giants
INDIANAPOLIS
SEATTLE

[themush]

4

Miami
Tampa Bay (BB)
Denver
N.Y. JETS
Carolina
Jacksonville
New Orleans
Cincinnati
BALTIMORE (BB)
MINNESOTA
ST. LOUIS (BB)
SAN DIEGO
Chicago
N.Y. Giants
INDIANAPOLIS
SEATTLE

[Anthony]

5

Last week: 8-7-1. Season totals: 78-75-7, Pct. .509. Best Bets: 12-17-4, Pct. .424.

Home team in capital letters; point spreads (opening line) in paretheses after underdog team.

THURSDAY

DETROIT 20 (+2 1/2), Miami 14 - Minus three yards rushing? And I just can't bring myself to laying points with the Dolphins on artificial turf, upon which they have lost nine consecutive games.

DALLAS 23, Tampa Bay 6 (+11) - All but one of Bruce Gradkowski's road outings have been horror shows and Dallas shouldn't be vulnerable to any kind of letdown after winning an out-of-conference game.

KANSAS CITY 31 (+1 1/2), Denver 21 - Denver's Chernobyl maneuver Sunday night was eerily reminiscent of Philadelphia's against the Giants in Week 2, and it figures to have the same ultimate effect; plus the home team has won seven in a row here and the Chiefs are a simply amazing 36-11-1 against the spread as a home underdog dating all the way back to 1983! This week's safest investment comes early.

SUNDAY

N.Y. JETS 20, Houston 7 (+5 1/2) - The Jets had their obligatory letdown last week after snapping a seven-game losing streak to New England the week before - and while we're on the subject of losing streaks, Houston has one lulu of a losing streak going as a visitor on the carpet - spanning eleven games, during which the Texans have been outscored by a mind-blowing 324 to 136.

N.Y. Giants 27, TENNESSEE 21 (+3) - The Titans still haven't beaten a team with a winning record in ages, and last week won't qualify because the Eagles will be lucky if they finish 6-10 this year, much less 9-7; and Eli Manning's performance over the last two games has been too bad to be believed.

Jacksonville 16, BUFFALO 7 (+3) - One good game against a determinedly lousy defense doesn't make J.P. Losman the answer at quarterback and the home team in this one is 1-5 both ways, with the lone win being by one point. Another dull, smash-mouth Jacksonville win seems in the hopper.

WASHINGTON 23 (+4 1/2), Carolina 17 - The vastly overrated Panthers have shown not one scintilla of consistency all season and have taken an 0-for-4 lifetime collar in the nation's capital; and a star may have been born last week in Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, whose long-awaited NFL debut in front of a hostile crowd was outstanding (passer rating of 92.3). Skins on the upset in Campbell's home opener.

ATLANTA 20, New Orleans 13 (+3) - After an uplifting start, the bloom is off the rose in New Orleans, and this is in all likelihood the last chance for the Falcons to save their season.

Cincinnati 27, CLEVELAND 14 (+3) - The 5-5 Bengals are actually in decent shape for the playoffs, trailing Jacksonville and Kansas City by one game but holding guaranteed tie-breaker edges over both; and can't see the Browns rebounding immediately after blowing that big lead against Pittsburgh.

BALTIMORE 24, Pittsburgh 13 (+3) - Nice comeback engineered by Big Ben on the road last week, but he still had to throw too many times (contributing to three more interceptions, giving him a league-high 17 for the year) and the home team in this series has won the last seven meetings. Finally, the line on this game is an absolute joke: The Ravens should be favored by double digits, and will win by double digits.

San Francisco 19 (+6), ST. LOUIS 6 - Another line that is a total joke. Whatever remained of "The Greatest Show On Turf" mystique was shattered beyond repair last Sunday and the 49ers have won three in a row and covered four straight against the Rams.

MINNESOTA 21, Arizona 10 (+6 1/2) - The former-head-coach-returns angle didn't work for Tom Coughlin Monday night, and it won't work any better for Dennis Green - not with the Cardinals never having won at Triple H (0-4 and outscored 147-59) and given Arizona's 2-19 straight-up and 7-14 against-the-line mark on rugs since 2002.

SAN DIEGO 34, Oakland 16 (+13) - Ironically, the switch back to Aaron Brooks at quarterback for the Raiders makes the Chargers, winners and coverers of the last six meetings herein, an even more attractive play because it forces Marty Schottenheimer to open up his offense (figuring that he actually has to get into the end zone more than twice to assure the victory) and expose the statistically high ranking of Oakland's defense as the optical illusion that it is.

NEW ENGLAND 24, Chicago 17 (+3) - The Patriots will win this game for essentially the same reason Dallas knocked off Indianapolis last week: They need it far more, while a non-conference loss will do Chicago no real damage. Also note that the Bears got utterly plastered in both of their prior visits to New England, losing both by a combined 61-10. Tom Brady runs his career record on artificial turf to a phenomenal 22-2 in his first-ever home game on such a field.

INDIANAPOLIS 38, Philadelphia 14 (+9) - If Indy doesn't have Philly's number, then the concept of one team having another team's number cannot possibly exist: The Colts have won their last three games over the Eagles by a combined 76 points - and this is the most lopsided result of the three most recent games in any of the NFL's 496 head-to-head matchups.

MONDAY NIGHT

SEATTLE 20, Green Bay 3 (+10) - Still off the board at a vast majority of outlets even though Matt Hasselbeck is expected to start, but the Packers offer little appeal in this spot, going on the road after getting shut out at home, and with the game being on the artificial carpet, where Green Bay is 16-35-1 against the line since 1994.

BEST BETS: KANSAS CITY, BALTIMORE, SAN FRANCISCO

[Bran]

6

Miami
DALLAS
Denver
N.Y. JETS
Carolina
BUFFALO
ATLANTA
Cincinnati
BALTIMORE
MINNESOTA
San Francisco
SAN DIEGO (BB)
NEW ENGLAND
N.Y. Giants (BB)
INDIANAPOLIS (BB)
SEATTLE

[#99]

7

Miami
DALLAS
Denver
N.Y. JETS
Carolina (BB)
Jacksonville
New Orleans (BB)
Cincinnati
BALTIMORE
Arizona
San Francisco (BB)
SAN DIEGO
NEW ENGLAND
N.Y. Giants
Philadelphia
SEATTLE

[Jeff Boswell]

8

Miami
Dallas
Kansas City
NY Jets (BB)
Carolina
Buffalo
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Baltimore
Minnesota
San Francisco (BB)
San Diego
New England
NY Giants (BB)
Indianapolis
Seattle

[Anthony]

Surprise, surprise - guess who's leading Week 12 at the conclusion of the Thanksgiving Day action? Why it's Jeff Boswell - the only one to go 3-0 in the Turkey Day festivities.

The standings for Week 12 heading into the weekend:

Jeff Boswell: 3-0 (0-0 in Best Bets)
Anthony: 2-1 (1-0)
Marc: 2-1 (1-0)
Bran: 2-1 (0-0)
#99: 2-1 (0-0)
The Pirate Bob: 2-1 (0-1)
bama4256: 1-2 (0-0)
themush: 1-2 (0-1)

[Anthony]

The unanimous consensus that Seattle will cover in the Monday night game has set up a scenario under which the entire order of finish for Week 12 is already known - and Jeff Boswell has proved once again that he just seems to know where the wire is (a most appropriate metaphor since two of the Pointspread Contest's "traditions" - the numbering/coloring format and the point system, which is based on how purses are distributed at various racetracks - have been adapted from horse racing): By going 10-5 this week (pending the outcome of the Monday night game), Jeff is now 89-79-7 for the season, only two games ahead of someone else who can be cited (hint - he includes a running total of his season record in his picks every week), yet Jeff is way ahead of the latter in the contest standings because of his five first-place finishes (including this week), while this other pointspread prognosticator has three second and three third-place finishes, but no wins.

Here's how they ran in Week 12 (the Monday night game not included):

1st 8 Jeff Boswell: 10-5 (2-1) [4-0] ... 55 points
2nd 2 The Pirate Bob: 10-5 (2-1) [3-1] ... 20 points
3rd 5 Anthony: 9-6 (3-0) ... 11 points
4th 7 #99: 9-6 (2-1) ... 5 points
5th 6 Bran: 9-6 (1-2) ... 3 points
6th 3 Marc: 7-8 ... 2.5 points
7th 1 bama4256: 6-9 (1-1) [2-2] {1-1} ... 2 points
8th 4 themush: 6-9 (1-2) [2-2] {0-1} ... 1.5 points

(Best Bet Record)
[Record in Tie-Breaker Games]
{Best Bets in Tie-Breaker Games}

NOTE: If Seattle covers or pushes in the Monday night game, bama4256 finishes ahead of themush due to a better Best Bet record (2-1 or 1-1-1 to 1-2); if Green Bay covers, bama4256 finishes ahead of themush on the grounds of a better record in Best Bets used in tie-breaker games {1-1 to 0-1}.

For current standings, click here.